Mohammed Shami

Mohammed Shami is an Indian cricketer known for his bowling. He is a right arm fast-medium swing and seam bowler and a right hand batsman representing Bengal in domestic cricket. As of 2016, he is associated with Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premiere League (IPL). Known as a 'reverse swing specialist', Shami is known for his consistency in pace and he is one of the fastest bowlers of the country bowling around the 140mph mark. He made his One Day Internationals (ODI) debut against Pakistan in January 2013 and made his test debut against West Indies in November 2013. Shami was also a part of the World Cup 2015 squad. He is one of the emerging bowlers of India and is considered as the future of Indian bowling.

Shami was born on 9th March 1990 in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Shami to Tousif Ali. His father was a farmer and was himself an amateur player and played as a fast bowler in his younger days. Shami has three brothers and one sister in his family. His story of becoming an international bowler is like rags to riches story. Shami's father saw him practicing and recognized his bowling abilities. To fulfill the dream of becoming a fast bowler that he wasn't able to fulfill himself, Shami's father took him to a cricket coach named Badruddin Siddique who used to coach in Moradabad at a distance of 22 km from Shami's village. The coach was impressed by his bowling and he prepared him for the Uttar Pradesh trials. Shami bowled well in the U-19 trials but wasn't selected by the selectors. Later the coach advised his parents to send him to Kolkata. He then started to play for the Dalhousie Athletic Club in Kolkata and was noticed by the former assistant secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal - Debabrata Das. He drafted Shami to his town club with a contract of Rs 75,000. He also allowed Shami to stay in his house as he didn't have any place to stay. Shami performed well for the Town Club and was then selected for the Bengal Under 22 team. Shami then joined one of the top clubs of Bengal, the Mohun Bagan Club and bowled to Sourav Ganguly in the nets, impressing the cricketer who showered him with praises. Shami continued his performance and made his first class debut against Assam in 2010 and picked up three wickets in his debut match. He maintained his performance in the first class cricket and was selected in the India A squad in 2012 and he made his debut against West Indies in 2012. He was also signed by his home franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2011 and received coaching from cricket legend Wasim Akram. He was retained by the team in 2012 and 2013. In the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy he performed well and in a match against Hyderabad, he scored 4/36 and 6/71 and helped his side win the match. His performance of 7/79 and 4/42 against Madhya Pradesh was highly praised by the cricket experts. As a result of his performance, he was selected for the ODI series against Pakistan and he made his debut on 6th January 2013. His debut performance was 1/23 from the 9 overs he bowled. He was selected for the Australia Tour and was given chance in the fourth match where he took 3 wickets. In the 2014 season against New Zealand, Shami took 11 wickets in the season at an average of 28.72 and maintained his form in ODI.

Apart from ODI, Mohammad Shami was also a part of the Test cricket as well as T20 cricket. Shami made his test debut in November 2013 against West Indies in Kolkata and took nine wickets in his debut match and made the record of most wickets by a pacer in his debut, breaking the previous record of Munaf Patel's 7 wickets. He then made his international Twenty20 debut in March 2014 against Pakistan and took the wicket of Umar Akmal in the match. He was later also included in the England Tour in 2014 where he took 3 wickets in the only match he played. After his consistent performance, he was selected for the 2015 World Cup and was also included in the playing eleven. In his debut match of world cup, he took four wickets against Pakistan and later took two wickets against South Africa. He performed a satisfying performance throughout the season except in the Semi Finals where he bowled 10 overs and he gave 68 runs without any wicket. He later revealed that he bowled in the semi finals despite the pain in his left knee. He was also selected for the 2016 T20 world cup but did not get any chance to perform.

Shami married his girlfriend Hasin Jahan in a private ceremony held in Moradabad on 6th June 2014. In 2016, playing in the CAB Super League Final, Shami created history and became the first Indian bowler to take five wickets from the pink ball in a second class game. Shami was also injured in 2016 but is now reported to be fit. A fit Shami is also vital for Indian team and is also considered as an important bowler for the future. He is often compared with the great bowlers of the world and the combination of his speed and great swing mark his excellent bowling techniques.